Chana Dal

C﻿hana dal is one of the staple foods in India. It is also known as Bengal gram.Yellow chana dal has slightly sweet taste and nutty flavor. Chana dal is a very versatile it is cooked with different combination of lentils and vegetables like lauki (Bottle gourd) and different tadka is added to dal to enhance the flavor.

Chana dal has a lovely aroma and it absorbs the flavors of the spices really well. This dal does not boil down to mush that is one of the reasons it is often cooked with urad dal. Chana dal is also used for tampering and cooking meat dishes like shammi kebabs. Chana dal is delicious and have very low glycemic index.

1. In a pressure cooker add chana dal and urad dal, mix them together and wash, changing water several times until the water appears clear and then soak dal in 4 cups of water for 15 to 20 minutes or longer.

Soaked chana dal and urad dal

Add the dal in the pressure cooker

2. Once dals are soaked rinse the water out and wash . Add 4 cups of water, turmeric powder, salt and 1 teaspoon of oil and mix. Close the lid of the pressure cooker, place the weight on the lid and cook on medium heat. When dal is boiling it creates lot of foam and the foam comes out from pressure cooker to prevent that it is a good idea to add little oil.

Add water in dal

Add turmeric powder and salt and mix

3. In about 8 to 10 minutes pressure cooker will start steaming, turn the heat down and cook for 10 to 12 mintes. Turn the stove off and wait untill steam goes down. Different brand of cooker require different time to cook.

4. While dal is cooking prepare cumin seed and onion tomato tadka and keep them aside.(see below for tadka directions)5. Open the pressure cooker. Turn the stove on to medium heat, with the cooking spoon mix dal well so that there are no lumps, add more water if need.

6. Urad dal cook quickly and it blends in with channa dal but Chana dal does not mush. 7. Add cumin seed tadka and onion tomato tadka and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until you have the desired consistency. Turn the stove off.

8. When ready to serve, transfer dal in a serving bowl and pour hot chili tadka over dal. (See below for chili tadka)

Open the pressure cooker, mix and cook

Add cumin seed tadka

Add onion & tomato tadka and mix

Dal is ready

﻿Tips: ﻿﻿

1. Use pressure cooker for cooking dal, otherwise it takes too long to cook dal.

2. If you wish you can skip onion tomato tadka or any other tadka and alter Dal to your taste.

3. You can cook dal without urad dal or you can also cook chana dal with lauki (Bottle guard)

1. Heat small frying pan, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, slice onions and and sauté them on medium high heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until onions become light brown, while frequently stirring them.

2. In about 5 to 6 minutes onions will become light brown.

3. Add chopped tomatoes and chopped green chilies and cook, with the spatula try to mash the tomatoes so that they become soft quickly. In about 5 to 6 minutes tomatoes will become soft and blend with onions. Turn the stove off.

1. In a small pan (tadka pan) heat 2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter add crushed red chilies or red chili powder and fry them on very low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the red chilies fried, turn the heat off.

Variation in tadka

Tadkas enhance the flavor of dal, try different kinds of tadka or customize it to your own taste. Instead of adding tomatoes you can add only onion tadka to the dal for variations.